Finance Minister Moosa Zameer has clarified that the government paused the publication of financial data due to discrepancies in recording expenditure.
At Tuesday’s Parliament sitting, Minister Zameer was asked by Galolhu North MP Mohamed Ibrahim why the state ceased publishing the government’s financial statistics.
In his response, the minister explained that in June this year, under public accounts reconciliation efforts, issues with expenditure-recording policies within the Finance Ministry were identified. He noted that expenses from prior years had been recorded as part of this year’s accounts due to the issues. The decision to halt publicizing financial data was made in consultation with the Auditor General, he added.
‘Due to issues with the policies the ministry was using to record loan-funded projects’ disbursements in the accounting system, expenses incurred in previous years have been recorded as part of this year’s expenses,’ he explained.
The minister said the Auditor General has issued recommendations on how to proceed with the issue, and policies have been established to avoid such issues in the future.
